Specialized Orange County courts are marking significant milestones, with one program emerging as a nationwide model while another celebrates a special graduating class.

The local DUI court marked its 1000th graduation last week, and the county’s veteran’s treatment court was recently chosen as one of only four such programs chosen nationwide to become a “mentor court” for other jurisdictions.

Created as alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system and meant to address the underlying issues that lead to individuals breaking the law, a system known as collaborative courts encompass more than a half-dozen programs, including ones focused on drug and alcohol use and the homeless.

Those eligible for the collaborative courts are heavily screened and required to admit to their crimes and agree to undergo an intensive, structured and supervised series of treatment programs.

The milestones for Orange County collaborative courts system come as the focus for the statewide criminal justice system increasingly shifts toward working with inmates to make sure they don’t break the law again rather than simply locking them up.

An overcrowded state prison system has resulted in oversight for some felons falling to local law enforcement, and while the effects of California’s “inmate realignment” program on local jails and probation offices have garnered the most attention, the efforts at the county rehabilitation level will be key in determining realignment’s success or failure.

The Orange County veteran’s court began in 2008 as the brainchild of Judge Wendy Lindley, the first of its kind in California and only the second nationwide. In recent speech at the Long Beach Veteran’s Hospital, which serves as a key partner for the veteran’s court, Lindley described the court as a “nonadversarial therapeutic program” where veterans can “gather together as comrades in recovery.”

“They are coming into our program because they agree they broke the law and want to get over their issues,” Lindley said.

When evaluating who can enter the veteran’s court program, officials look for those who went into the military with a clean record but changed as a result of their service.

“I’m usually looking for some sort of disconnect that occurred while in the service,” said Bert Eitner, the deputy probation officer assigned to the veteran’s court. “A lot of these guys come home, and you can throw out the old stereotypes: They think they are alone, they think they are the only one going through this.”

More important in the evaluation process than the crime they are admitting to is whether they are open to treatment.

“We don’t believe in setting anyone up for failure in the program,” said Kim Parson’s, the veteran’s court coordinator. “It’s a tough program, but for them, it’s worth it because they learn so many tools, the coping skills, how to interact in daily life and the ability to interact with people like them.”

Along with two courts in New York and a court in Oklahoma, the Orange County program was recently chosen by Justice for Vets as a “host site” for those interested in learning how to run a veteran’s court.

“A lot of places want their own twist, so they take the information that we have provided them and create their own programs,” Eitner said. “I think what we have seen is a countrywide turn in the way the public views veterans and what they go through when it comes to our freedom. I think people are better educated about what these guys did for us.”

The veteran’s court, as well as the DUI court and the other collaborative programs, wasn’t always an easy sell. But advocates for the court say that the savings in jail costs as well as lower recidivism rates have led to their increased use, both locally and nationwide.

Court officials say that those who take part in the program also come to embrace it.

“Most appreciate the attention that they are getting from the court and to a lesser extent probation and the Veterans Administration,” Eitner said. “They have sunk fairly low when they get in front of the court, and to get the opportunity to right their lives means a lot to them.”

At the DUI court’s recent 1000th graduate ceremony at a Newport Beach courtroom, Judge Matthew S. Anderson pointed to similar effects on collaborative court participants. Talking to an investigator and officer who had arrested two of the graduates, Anderson spoke of the turnaround he believed they had made.

“You see people at their ugliest, but what you are going to see today are people who made some incredible choices to change their life,” Anderson said. “I look out and I see these beautiful, healthy, sober people and I know that something amazing is underway.”

Anderson’s comments echoed ones made by Lindley after her speech in Long Beach about the ultimate effect of the veteran’s court.

Sean Emery started at the Register in 2006. As a community reporter he covered the city of San Juan Capistrano, before later moving to the Irvine city government and the Orange County Great Park beat. He's currently the night breaking news and crime reporter, covering incidents and issues countywide.

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